Local Noah Rubin Leads Top American Juniors Into the Roland Garros Junior French Championships

May 31, 2012 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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The USTA has announced the eight girls and seven boys who have been accepted into the main draw and the qualifying draw at the 2012 Roland Garros Junior French Championships. The main draw will be played June 3-10 at Roland Garros in Paris; qualifying will be played May 31-June 1. Among the group is Rockville Centre, N.Y.’s Noah Rubin. Rubin is ranked a career-high 17th and reached the semifinals at both the USTA International Spring Championships and the Easter Bowl.

The following juniors have been accepted into the boys and girls singles draws:

U.S. Boys–Main Draw

►Noah Rubin, Rockville Centre, N.Y.

►Mitchell Krueger, Aledo, Texas

►Mackenzie McDonald, Piedmont, Calif.

►Spencer Papa, Boca Raton, Fla.

►Alexios Halebian, Glendale, Calif.

U.S. Boys–Qualifying Draw

►Thai Kwiatkowski, Charlotte, N.C.

►Stefan Kozlov, Pembroke Pines, Fla.

U.S. Girls–Main Draw

►Taylor Townsend, Stockbridge, Ga. 

►Chalena Scholl, Pompano Beach, Fla.

►Alexandra Kiick, Plantation, Fla.

►Sachia Vickery, Miramar, Fla.

►Kyle McPhillips, Willoughby, Ohio

►Krista Hardebeck, Santa Ana, Calif.

►Jennifer Brady, Boca Raton, Fla.

►Christina Makarova, San Diego

Sixteen-year-old Townsend is currently the top-ranked girl in the ITF World Junior Rankings, and is the first American to hold the number one junior ranking since Donald Young in 2005. In January, Townsend swept the girls singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open, becoming the first American to capture both junior titles at a Grand Slam since Lindsay Davenport at the 1992 U.S. Open.

Scholl, 16, is currently ranked ninth in the ITF World Junior Rankings and was a finalist at the 2012 USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif., where she lost to Kiick, 16, the daughter of former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick. Vickery, 17, is ranked a career-high 10th and captured the singles title at the Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica in January.

Krueger, 18, is the highest-ranked American boy ranked at number eight in the ITF World Junior Rankings. He captured the 2012 USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif., and won the doubles title at the Easter Bowl with Halebian, 17, who was the Easter Bowl singles runner-up. McDonald, 17, captured the Easter Bowl title and reached the boys semifinals at the Australian Open as a qualifier. He is currently ranked a career-high 12th in the ITF World Junior Rankings.

Last year, Bjorn Fratangelo became the first American since John McEnroe in 1977 to win the boys singles title at Roland Garros. Andrea Collarini reached the boys singles final at Roland Garros in 2010, while Ashley Harkleroad (2002), current USTA main draw wild card Brian Baker (2003) and Alex Kuznetsov (2004) all reached the Roland Garros junior singles final in consecutive years, and Meghann Shaughnessy reached the girls final in 1996. Jennifer Capriati was the last American to win the girls singles title at Roland Garros in 1989.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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